I first met my friend Dan in fifth grade homeroom. Starting Middle School was a stressful time–students from two elementary schools came together which meant a lot of new kids were in my grade. We were also in a new building (a much larger building) and we had lockers for the first time. All of this combined to make me extra anxious about the transition.

That’s why, when I saw Dan had the cassette tape of a band I liked on his desk in front of me, I hoped we’d become friends. Because we were shy that didn’t really happen for a couple more years, but it did eventually and we’ve been friends ever since.

Fast forward a bunch of years and, later this year, Dan’s getting married. I’m proud to say that I’m going to be in the wedding party as a groomsman. In preparation for the wedding, Dan has asked me to help create some playlists for the wedding reception using Spotify, the streaming music service. You probably already know Spotify, but, if not, just check out the video below for a quick briefing on the service:

If you haven’t yet used it, Spotify is a service that legally streams music from thousands of artists. Most all of the music you’re looking for will be on Spotify*and it won’t take up any room on your hard-drive. You can stream music from Spotify through your mobile phone or computer and share it with friends through Facebook as well as through shared playlists.

Dan lives in New York and I’m here in Pittsburgh, but we can still share our playlists through Spotify. Our friendship was largely formed around our taste in music–Dan had a tape I thought was cool and, later, I got him into bands he hadn’t heard of yet. It went on that way through the rest of Middle School and High School and even on into college. Now, in the months leading up to his wedding, we continue to connect through music. What a cool service Spotify is!

– Corey, Digital Learning Librarian

P.S. If you’re interested in listening to one of the wedding reception playlists as it’s put together, click here.

*Spotify is a Digital Rights Management service, which means that all of the music available through the service is streamed legally, though access is limited based on copyright law. You can freely access tons of music through Spotify, but some groups (e.g. The Beatles) have agreements with other services (iTunes in the case of The Beatles) which further limit legal availability of their music.